The file photo provided by Samsung Electronics Co. shows its semiconductor complex in Xi’an, China.
SEOUL, April 26 (Korea Bizwire) — After the U.S. slapped sanctions on a string of Chinese companies, Taiwanese and Japanese chipmakers enjoyed a stronger presence in the Chinese chip market, while South Korean chipmakers’ standing there weakened, the business lobby group said Monday.
The Federation of Korean Industriesanalyzed the changes in the market shares of Taiwan, South Korea, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, Japan and the U.S. in the Chinese chip import market since the U.S. government imposed sanctions on Chinese companies such as Huawei and SMIC.
The shares of Taiwan and Japan in the Chinese chip market rose by 4.4 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points, respectively, compared to 2018, or before the sanctions were put in place.
In contrast, South Korea’s share of the Chinese chip market declined by 5.5 percentage points during the same period.
China’s chip imports grew by 37.2 percent last year compared to 2018, with the country’s imports from Taiwan and Japan rising by 57.4 percent and 34.8 percent, respectively.
In contrast, China’s chip imports from South Korea marked a relatively modest growth of 6.5 percent during the same period.
This is primarily because Huawei suspended its purchases of Korean memory chips. In addition, as the price of memory chips declined, China’s imports of Korean memory chips declined by 13.7 percent last year compared to 2018 in value terms.
However, microcontrollers, the core non-memory chips of home electronics items that China imported from South Korea, and other chips rose by 69.3 percent and 67.7 percent, respectively.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
